THE BAD SHOT, OR UNSKILLED SPORTSMAN. 119 



men only kill Partridges flying" straight ofl^, and that too 

 at short range; because they have no power of judging 

 distances, and no knowledge of shooting cross-shots, w^hich 

 requires a combination of movements to be successful. A 

 young sportsman should beware of going shooting with a 

 man who has the reputation of being a bad marksman. It 

 is better to go out with a skilled marksman, for if he con- 

 tracts the habits of the bad marksman, it will be difficult 

 to get rid of them. A bad shot, or unskilled sportsman 

 will spoil the best broken dog in the world, and should a 

 sportsman want to purchase a well-broken dog, my advice 

 is, never buy one from a man that is a bad shot. Never 

 loan a well-broken dog, pointer or setter, to a man who 

 shoots badly, for if you do you can rest assured that the 

 dog will be s])oiled. He will contract bad habits ; he will 

 learn to run in, or chase, or become careless, or run after 

 the birds without pointing them; he will become ungov- 

 ernable, and it will be almost impossible for you to control 

 him afterwards, unless you thrash him and keep strict 

 watch over him. The bad shot, or unskilled sportsman, is 

 a great protection to Partridges. He goes out and finds 

 and flushes the covies, and fires awa}^ both barrels with- 

 out killing any, and the covies become scattered in every 

 direction. Should the good shot come along, he finds it 

 impossible to get up a covey, because they have been flushed 

 and scattered by the bad shot. The good shot may get up 

 one or two scattered birds and kill them, whereas if the 

 bad shot had not gone that way and flushed and scattered 

 the covies, the chances are two to one that the good shot 

 would have filled his bag out of the same covies, going 

 over the same ground. Bad shots frighten the Partridges 

 and make them very wild and shy. I have seen Partridges 

 fl}^ clear out of sight over the tops of the highest trees, and 

 hide themselves in holes in the ground, and under cord- 

 wood and old drift, in musk-rat holes, stone fences, and 

 under roots of trees, stumps, hollow logs, stone-piles, wheat- 

 stacks, corn-shocks, piles of rails, sink-holes, and in ever}' 



